Financial management consultancy services

Tender description

Access (www.access-si.org.uk) delivers an Enterprise Development Programme (EDP) for charities and social enterprises in England (see www.enterprisedevelopmentprogramme.org.uk). This tender relates to the provision of financial management support within that programme. • review of background documentation; • review and support in relation to accounting system in use – chart of accounts, apportionment system, etc.; • guidance on financial procedures/policies/manuals; • guidance on accounting and reporting on performance of enterprise income streams, costs and profitability. Access — the Foundation for Social Investment (www.access-si.org.uk) launched the Enterprise Development Programme (EDP) in 2018. Details of the programme can be found here: www.enterprisedevelopmentprogramme.org.uk Between April 2021 and March 2024 the programme aims to support around 300 charities and social enterprises (around 100 per year) to set up new enterprise activity, or grow existing enterprise activity. The programme offers a mix of: • advice and support; • training; • opportunity to be involved in peer networks; • access to enterprise grants. This tender relates to the provision of financial management support within the programme. The framework We are looking to recruit a pool of qualified and experienced accountants to provide financial management support over a 3-year period from April 2021 to March 2024, with the possibility of a further 1-year extension at Access’ discretion. We expect that around 40 % of our programme participants will need financial management support, so we expect to make around 40 referrals per year. We expect to recruit a minimum of five suppliers and a maximum of 12 suppliers onto the framework but reserve the right to vary those figures. There will be no guarantee of work volumes for any supplier, and no obligation on suppliers to accept any referrals offered during the period of the framework When a programme participant needs financial management support the programme will offer a referral to a supplier on the framework. There will be no further process of tender or quoting for these referrals. Referrals will instead be made at Access’ discretion to any supplier on the framework, and may be based on issues including, without limitation: geographical proximity, specialist expertise, performance under the framework to date, potential conflicts of interest and price. If a supplier chooses not to accept the referral, Access will offer it to an alternative supplier. The work Once a referral is agreed, the supplier will be provided with instructions and a standard pack of documents from the participating organisation (financial accounts, management accounts, financial procedures manual, business plan, etc.) in order to prepare for the support work. The supplier will then make contact to commence support work with the participating organisation: Core referral The core referral will be on the basis of four days of work and will be paid as such. Instructions for a core referral will come from named EDP sector partners (see the EDP website for details). Referral requirements may vary and contain specific review and support components, but will typically comprise: • review of background documentation; • review and support in relation to accounting system in use – chart of accounts, apportionment system, etc.; • guidance on financial procedures/policies/manuals; • guidance on accounting and reporting on performance of enterprise income streams, costs and profitability. Extended referral In a minority of cases, subject to budget and with the mutual agreement of all three of the participating organisation, the referring EDP sector partner, and the supplier, the referral may be extended by anything from a further 1 day up to a maximum of a further 16 days of work. These extended referrals will be in cases where technical intervention is needed to either address important accounting deficiencies or to build improved enterprise-based accounting or reporting systems. There is no menu of items that these extended referrals could cover. The following is provided as an illustrative list only: • support with financial models and projections for new income streams; • support with pricing strategies; • support with rebuilding of chart of accounts or introducing new bookkeeping systems; • support with rebuilding management accounting and reporting processes.